Projects & Outreach: Court-Agency Collaboration Project

The Court-Agency Collaboration Project is funded by a three
year grant from Children's Bureau, Administration for Children, Youth and
Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A court agency liaison
is leading collaborative working groups in Douglas, Lancaster, and Sarpy
Counties. These groups include all the juvenile judges, several child
protection administrators and workers, attorneys (guardians ad litem, parent's
attorneys, prosecutors, agency attorneys). Foster Care Review Board
representatives and Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) representatives
within each county. Each group is working on concretely addressing various
barriers to permanency throughout the child protection court process.

The Court Agency Liaison along with CCFL faculty and staff organizes and
facilitates each of the meetings, which are held in each county on a regular
basis, usually about once a month. Each collaboration group has begun by
identifying barriers to permanency on a continuum from the initial reporting of
alleged child abuse or neglect through the time that a child is placed in a
permanent home (either reunified with his or her family, adopted, or in a
permanent guardianship). These barriers that cause delays for children have
been prioritized within each collaborative group. Groups are currently
analyzing system issues that create the delays and developing and implementing-system based solutions.

The goal of each group is to develop and implement system improvements that
reduce the delays to returning to or finding a permanent home for abused and
neglected children. It is hoped that by including most, if not all, of the
individuals who work in the system these collaborative groups will have the
expertise to design and implement solutions to some of the most serious delays
in the system. Because of the interdependence of these systems, no single group
or agency can make these improvements on their own. However, by working
together there is optimism that significant improvements will be made and that
children who are removed from their homes will find permanency within a
reasonable time period.

Our mission

Is to conduct research, analyze policy, and provide education and community service.
The purpose of CCFL's activities is to enhance the well-being of children, youth, and
families.

One hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, how big my house was, or what kind of car I drove. But the world may be a little better, because I was important in the life of a child - Forest Witcraft